The piece that stood out most to me was “Ladybug” by Joan Mitchell painted in 1957. This painting was a fairly large one with colors splattered all over. It may have looked like a mess to some but this piece told a story to me. This piece is called the ladybug but does not resemble the insect at all. If you look closely at this painting it looks like small airplanes. Some on fire, crashing, taking off, landing. It seems like its explaining how life could’ve been during war for a woman, having to stay home and watch the sky look like “ladybugs” with all the aircrafts leaving and coming, attacking and defending. This painting gives a sense of sadness and helplessness. From it you can tell what it must have been like during a war. Wars aren’t pretty yet this painting depicting all the sadness from a war gives you sense of awe. The colors are a mixture of bright and dark and this painting doesn’t scream excitement or sadness. Instead it scream despair and depression. It is an amazing piece that can be translated into many different stories for everyone who views it.

This text was very interesting, it related closely to the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. It demonstrates the character Berta found in Jane Eyre. In the Novel Jane Eyre Bertha is described as a mentally disturbed woman who comes from the Caribbean, the only reason she left is because she got married to Mr. Rochester for her money. Rochester’s story was only a cover up from all that Bertha had faced. It was what any outsider would believe if they hadn’t heard her side. Wide Sargasso Sea shows us that she wasn’t just a mentally unstable woman who wasn’t white. She had faced so many battles over racism, sexism, economical discrimination. Wide Sargasso Sea gives Bertha’s history and who she actually is. It gives us an inside view that it wasn’t her fault for anything that happened to her and Mr. Rochester was partially at fault as well as the time period she was in. The two different views are very important for the reader to understand what it was like through a white male’s perspective and a black woman’s perspective. During that time period everything was different and white male’s were the superior race. They were in charge, they held power. They believed they held so much power they needed to enslave people of color. The two characters Mr. Rochester and Bertha ultimately had two different fates at the end of the novel, Bertha was finally free of the cruel world she was stuck in.

*Beep* *Beep* It was 4:15 am and the start of a long week for Priyana. She puts her alarm on snooze and dozes off for a few minutes until it goes off again. Her phone reads 4:25 am and she knows she has to get up and start her daily routine for school. As she starts the shower she looks at her face in the mirror, signs of lack of sleep has made her eyes look so dark.  After getting showering and getting dressed it is now 5:00 am and Priyana has to leave now or else she’ll be late to her 7:15 am class. She walks outside into the dark and humid morning. Water was falling from the sky, the humidity was relatively high. She starts her walk to her car and finally comes into view with it. It starts up and shes off to the train station. She finds parking and starts walking fast to make it on time for the train departing in a minute. She makes it and her commute starts. As she takes the A train to Jay Street the train is filled with construction workers. Its silent and moving fast. In no time she reaches Jay Street and transfers to the R train. After getting off the R she starts her walk to 23rd street and lexington. The rain drops were coming down harder now making it hard to see. She still makes it on time at the vertical campus for her first class of the week.

Reading this piece by Freud made me realize what a major impact a parent’s opinion may have on a child. I do agree with Freud’s thinking, our parents are the ones who are responsible for educating us on society and basic things at a very young age. Yet as we grow we start to stray away from what is set for us by our parents. We start to learn there are other ways of thinking and different options within the world. The roles of family members are sought out to us at an early age. We know what a mother’s “role” typically consist of and what a father’s “role” is. I believe this is what Freud piece is mainly about. Every family has a relationship and roles that coexist with each other. Our minds are carved into thinking every one has a specific role and thats what is normal. A father is pictured as a strong, hard working individual while a mother is caring and the one who takes care of the home and family. Yet somehow a father or a mother may be valued differently when they are equal. I believe this is common in some family’s who are typically old fashioned and live by the old societal rules and perspective. When in reality a father or a mother do not have given roles. They can do what they want and have as much control as they want in a family. Our opinions do now always have to have our parents approval. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and choices throughout their life.

Song of Myself by Walt Withman, contains many comparisons to nature and human life. The untranslatable self that Walt Withman mentions is someone who feels in touch with nature. They are one with nature and understand the meaning of life. They base their life off of nature and the way things progress through life such as a blade of grass. We are no better than animals and nature itself, yet we often think we are. What I think it means is we are all equal no matter what class, race or culture you’re from we are all animals (mammals) in a sense and we all come to an end one day. There shouldn’t be prejudice or classes since we are not better than each other. We all start out in life at a similar place and where you are when you progress shouldn’t define you. Being a human is amazing and taking advantage of all we are able to do. As we go through life we see each other differently and become judgmental based on materialistic objects and value. It gets us carried away and takes us away from where we all started creating the judgements and the unfairness. If we could all remember that each of us start from a similar place and end in one also we would be more humble and more in touch with the world around us.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers by Jane Dickinson reminds me so much of Jane Eyre. A strong minded, courageous, and most of all hopefully woman. Jane’s entire life can be described within this poem. Hope was all she had and what kept her sane through it all. It was her drive, what kept her going and not giving up. More than often it was a good thing but sometimes it wasn’t. Jane had hope her life would be different, but every time it was close to changing for the better things got ruined. Through every obstacle she faced she didn’t give up on her life she kept hope that one day things will get better. In the poem hope is described as a bird that keeps people warm and doesn’t ask for anything in return. This is a great analogy because in a way it protects you and your sanity. Jane does have her own little bird of hope.

The first 12 chapters of Jane Eyre are filled with so much commotion. Jane is being treated horribly by her aunt and rest of the family she has left without reasoning. She gets beat, punished and verbally abused so often she has found ways to try to rebel against it. I feel like the last straw for Jane was  being beaten, attacked, then getting blamed and locked away in the room where her Uncle died. She then fell ill according to the servants, the ones who were once rude to her and treated her like a bottom feeder. Jane decided it was time, time for this all to come to an end. She wanted an answer to why she was being treated like such an awful person. She confronts her aunt Mrs. Reed for an answer but doesn’t seem to get one. At least not one legitimate or straightforward. Her aunt decides she’s done dealing with Jane and sends her away to a new school, her new home. Unfortunately the torment from the Reeds residence somehow followed her to this new school. She was called names and not treated equally. Jane’s life is an example of oppression. She goes through endless torturous and condescending treatment. She learns that defending herself and who she is, is the only way to get through this.  Jane showed everyone she can be just as good or  even better at what they’re doing. She did this through educating herself and staying focused on education while all the negativity around her gets thrown out.

After reading the first 13 chapters of Jane Eyre, I immediately felt like what she was going through. In chapter 1 it introduces us to the oppression she faces. The unnecessary cruel treatment she receives within the Reed’s household shows how much she is welcomed there. She was treated worse than servants the reason being she did nothing for the Reeds. She was looked at as basically a leech using them for a home. Although it was not her choice or responsibility for what happened that led her here. She was treated as if she was a monster. Yet she was merely a young girl, frightened yet put on a brave mask whenever needed.

Resistance is important when someone believes they have no power. Resistance is key, and that is something Jane kept with her. For example she resisted when the servants tried to hold her down, and when they tried to carry her away. She didn’t allow any of this to happen without a fight. Resistance is needed to keep things in order, its the only way to withstand unfair thoughts, treatment or actions. Jane has gone through what most people who resist the “power”, the beating, the punishments all the cons of resisting, this young child went through. Accompanying this behavior is guilt when things go wrong, The only time Jane has been treated with sympathy was when she fell sick. This occurred after being hit with a book in the head and punished for hours in a room alone.

Sublime to me is a feeling of elevation. It’s almost a surreal feeling where you have no control. Sublime plays a major part in our feelings and how we process things. Our brains separates fear from joy and real from imaginative scenarios and thought. Environment is what influences the fear and dark thoughts everyone has. This is what nightmares are made up of and what our minds process as frightening. From person to person this differentiates, but for example something commonly feared of is clowns. What creates this fear is the influence from an early age that clowns are a scary character. From comic books to horror movies they play this part that then influences our brain to think negative thoughts when anything related to clowns come to mind. These thoughts cannot be controlled, they come natural to the some and to other they don’t occur. Sometimes as we age we get over these fears or unfortunately grow them.  Another example would be animals, some people suffer from arachnophobia while others may love spiders. This is all in our heads and its different for everyone. Its utter torture for someone with arachnophobia to see a spider while people who do not suffer from this phobia may have them as pets. Sublime is a state of horror and what we relate to it. We differentiate everything differently due to environment and society from when we’re born to the end of our journey. It may not seem like a common topic but we all face this during our everyday life.

-Priyana

Society is what carves us as human beings. Its with us all the time, from the day we are born until our last day on earth we conform to society. The proof behind this is the way we think, the choices we make, the things we do. All of this has been influenced by society. We don’t just proceed and do spontaneous things throughout life without thinking of the judgement and consequences from what society has molded and spit out at us.

Society has played many valuable roles within the many periods throughout history. One important one being the Enlightenment period. This thought that men and women were created equally was brought about during the time period. This period brought about the starting of a revolution in America. It brought women together and they became equal with men. Gaining the same opportunities offered to the male race, such as jobs and writing books. Women were not the only ones affected by this period.

The Enlightenment Period led to the American Revolution. This period wasn’t only about standing up for ones self but becoming knowledgable and knowing you do not have to always conform to what is taught to you. One of the most important periods in American history. It led to Americans defending themselves against unfair acts of taxation from Britain and having a voice.  No matter where you are or what you’re doing society has a say in the choices you make. Society may not approve of going against the “norm” but its bound to happen just like it did during the Enlightenment period.

-Priyana